Text 
No Comments [ Add Comment ]It's Fun To Play at the YMCA!
OGDEN -- The largest provider of child care in the nation is coming to Ogden.
Promoting honesty, respect, caring and responsibility, the YMCA will now be serving students in Weber and Ogden City school districts.
The merger with the CARES after-school program already in place at several local schools officially took place in July, and program directors say they are excited about the potential.
"We looked into several national programs, and this is the one that really fit," said youth and family director Marsha Prantil.
"We felt this was a national name the community could identify with."
Despite the change in name, fee structures will remain the same.
Cassandra Byington, YMCA's after-school program director for the Salt Lake City area, said Ogden's goals and ideals are exactly in line with the national organization's.
"The merger made logical sense. It will bring two great organizations together and make them even more powerful."
Just like the program in Salt Lake City, Ogden's will not be housed in one central facility, but in individual schools.
This won't be a change for Ogden-area students who have already been participating in the programs Prantil helped organize.
"It started out for me as a classroom teacher in Weber School District. What I saw was kids being left alone -- they were hanging around after school and going home to empty houses," Prantil said.
A lot of risks come with leaving kids alone, she said, and it was clear the community needed another option.
"Drinking early, teen pregnancy -- after-school programs are prevention programs," she said.
In addition to providing a safe space for students, after-school programs are starting to fill in enrichment gaps as time spent on physical education, the arts and music are continually decreased in the classroom, Prantil said.
Merging with the YMCA, she said, will increase the extracurricular opportunities kids will have.
Eventually, Byington said, the YMCA hopes to build modular space onto each school.
"The sky's the limit when we have our own dedicated space," she said.
Prantil said CARES already serves about 1,200 youth in Ogden City and Weber school districts.
YMCA after-school program sites
* Dee Elementary,550 22nd St., Ogden
* Gramercy Elementary,1270 Gramercy Ave., Ogden
* Madison Elementary,2563 Monroe Blvd., Ogden
* Polk Elementary,2615 Polk Ave., Ogden
* Lincoln Elementary,1235 Canfield Drive, Ogden
* T.O. Smith Elementary,3295 Gramercy Ave., Ogden
* Washington Terrace Elementary,20 E. 4600 South, Ogden
* Mound Fort Junior High School,1400 Mound Fort Drive, Ogden
* Mount Ogden Junior High School,3260 Harrison Blvd., Ogden
* Sand Ridge Junior High School, 2075 W. 4600 South, Roy
Add Your Comment
